LAKE PUCKAWAY PROTECTION AND REHIBILITATION DISTRICT (LPPRD) MEETING MINUTES

Saturday, April 25, 2021 – 10:00 A.M.

Marquette Town Hall

Marquette, WI

Board Members Present
Paul Gettelman, Chairman	James Johnson, Treasure
Jeff Kimber, Secretary	Gary Wilson, Standing Member of Town of Mecan
Jason Schlimgen, Commissioner	William Boutwell, Green Lake County Appointee
Willy Stalker, Commissioner
Guest	Guest
Joan Rowe	Mike Wergin
Jill Wortmann	Maddy Wergin
Roger Swanke	Ralphe Rowe
Jim Bonfilge	Gregory Rowe
Don Waldrop	Dan Rowe
David Rowe	Derek Kavanaugh, Green Lake County Conservationist

Agenda Item	LPPRD COMMITTEE MEETING	Responsible Party	ACTION
Meeting Called to Order	The regular Lake Puckaway Protection and Rehabilitation District was called to order 10:00 a.m. by Paul Gettelman.
Review/Approval of Minutes	Motion made by Jeff Kimber and seconded by Gary Wilson to approve the January 23, 2021 LPPRD meeting minutes. Motion carried.
Treasures Report	James Johnson reported everyone should have received, through email, the treasures report. He stated there is action needed to be considered for three $51,000 that either need to be reinvested or place in money market. Will get rates closer to date in September. Not aware of any significant expenses. Clean water has been paid will be on April expenses. $100 donation along with reimbursement for Richard Pergande. Motion made by Jeff Kimber and seconded by Willy Stalker to approve the treasures report. Motion carried.
Approve Agenda	Paul Gettelman reported there were a couple of changes to the old business, the MOU for Princeton Dam. Paul stated the meeting is run Motion was made by Willy Stalker and seconded by Jeff Kimber to approve the April 24, 2021 LPPRD agenda. Motion carried.
Old Business/ Follow Ups	a. Walleye Hatchery Update – Paul reported there were ten jars of eggs, 29 females 92 males were used. Largest female was 24.5inches and largest male was 23inches. There was a total of 1,411,742 eggs. Last week there was a tournament that had a 6-pound walleye caught. b. Tern Rafts – Paul reported they are going in next week. Randy will get in touch with anyone who indicated they could volunteer. There are two going in and possibly a third but will depend on rebuilding. They are for common terns, not forester terns. Daryl will be working on Pancake island; his cost was $1700 for the forester terns which was approved at last meeting. It was asked if there are any predator issues? Paul stated there is no predator issues as the terns are very protective of their territory. Paul reported he just got a permit to eliminate coumarates on the lakes East Side and needs to contact the warden first before shooting and it will not take place on weekend. Everything needs to be retrieved and then berried or put in dumpster. c. District File Storage/clerk – no update. d. Buoy’s update/repairs – Paul reported lighter chains will be used on the buoys in the channel in hopes there will be less vegetation to accumulate on them. They are holding off on buying new buoys. Two to 4 no wake decals and 2-mile marker lights need to be purchased along with a new screwdriver because it needs to be a specific type. e. Dredge bank - Derek reported the project will raise the dredge bank closer to where it uses to be over a decade ago. There have been a couple grants received. Last week, he met with contractors to go over launch procedures using a barge instead of by ice because they did not feel comfortable. This way is more expensive way but reliable. Will get bids back from each contract and will be sponsored by Ducks Unlimited. Approximate start date for the first phase of the dredge bake is July 15; there will be 3 phases. Similar project was done on Lake Poyagon. DNR parking lot and launch will be used but will remain open for boaters and will work with the village to ensure it is open for public use. 1500 and 2000 building on top of current dredge bank. There will be 400 to 500 open segments to allow boats and fish to get behind dredge bank. Gave example of what happened when Poygan did not have water break section, so learning experience to make sure what is done on Puckaway allows movement. The channel will not be dug to make deeper as it is costly. Geo fabric will be used to hold rock up so same issue in the 80s does not happen. Addition signage will be going up to make aware of rock along with marker buoys. Completion date is unsure until contractor is chosen, some say 120 days. Paul stated this project has been going on for a while. f. Princeton Dam - Paul reported the dam is done and has been working with them to see how much water is being let out, just open 5^th gate with no significant change. The dam will have an effect on the lake when water is lower. Th water level is not that significant and anticipates it staying open until May 15 if not later. The MOU needs to be put together, so it is a workable agreement between lake and village. - Community member asked what the final lake level? When original lake level was over 7000 above sea level and could. Derek reported if water is the same on the other side of the dam, then unfortunately it will not make a difference, would be Montello for the tail level. Paul reported a study was started, and not sure what the intensions are and did agree with them to lift the 5^th gate. We need to wait to see what Uriah comes up with. Paul continued. Montello and Grand River do not communicate with Princeton, which is where the “dumping” comes from, and have asked to coordinate them together. Last March, Derek reported he worked with Emergency Management and was set to meet with all operations of dams and what happens during flood emergency; they have started to replan a meeting to go forward. g. Webpage/Facebook – Paul reported he is trying to get Kristine Schlimgen involved with webpage. h. Onterra Final Version Environmental Monitoring study 2020 Lake Puckaway - Paul reported he looked at aquatic plant study which reported Bull Rush, more specifically called slender bull rush, which is very rare, by pancake island. Have picked aquatic vegetation by 30 plants. Report can be found on lake district webpage. - Community member asked if the lower-level water will help get aquatic established; however, feels there is a lot of vegetation already. Derek reported it will only matter for a few, and the Aquatic management plan is more for emergent and floating vegetation near shorelines. Submergent is harder to control and have gotten larger because water has gotten higher. Plan is not growing submergent it is more for emergent along the shorelines. Never goal to do west end. - Community member asked why did they go away? Derek reported once algae blooms 2012 tried to replant and took good, but in 2013 during flood and will rip the roots out. Carp also have an effect on bull rush. Has been a battle since 1973. James asked about contract with carp fisher, Gary reported DNR does not allow permit.	Paul Gettelman	Talk to Uriah to see what plan is on why they are only open halfway.
New Business	a. MOU with Village of Marquette for dredge bank work – Paul reported he went to meeting along with Derek. Marquette put together a MOU for us to consider, which was also sent to Brian Zimmerman who is local engineer for the board. They made it general for all the streets in the village; however, will be changing it with a specific route of going on H and down Charley. Any damage to the streets then we would be in charge of any maintenance to their streets. Will be negotiating that piece. District does not have attorney to do any of this. Working on where cars can be parked while boulders are in the parking lot. All of this will not be coming out of district would come from grant. Have someone willing to go over the MOU. b. District Newsletter – Paul reported he would like to get some type of newsletter out. Kristine Schlimgen volunteered to help get out. Info on hatchery, dredge bank, tern raft, and treasure report will be part of it. c. Action on Treasure requests – James reported there needs to be secured location for documents as he has a lot of paper. He is wondering if there is location that the documents can be stored at. Expenses on dredge bank are not out of our expenses, would be $50,000 that was approved last year. Derek thought it may be a carry over. Mil rate would be the same. - Community member, Mike Wergin, stated he would print the newsletter for free. James stated they will also need an accountant; Jeff reported eh has a friend he will ask. d. Any other new business – Paul reported the annual meeting was usually the first week in June on a Saturday. Restricted when we can do it by law. Board agreed with the first part of June.	Paul Gettelman Paul Gettelman Jeff Kimber Paul Gettelman	Send MOU to board with suggested changes and send back to village. Get mailings from Marquette County. Ask friend about helping with accounting. see if village will let us use their hall or will be outside.
Open Discussion	1. Community member asked about the new Federal requirement regarding wearing the boat lanyard. Paul reported it is not required for Lake Puckaway, only for Federal water.
Adjournment	There being no further business motion made by James Johnson and seconded by Jeff Kimber to adjourn the April 24, 2021 Lake Puckaway Protection and Rehabilitation District meeting at 11:21 a.m. Motion carried.

Respectfully submitted by:

Kristine Schlimgen,